Friday is always shopping day in China
To the editor:
It is Friday, shopping day. Shopping takes on a whole new meaning when you live in China. It is often a weekly or even daily chore. While there is storage space in most homes and apartments, this space is tiny compared to similar places in the U.S. Only now are the Chinese beginning to learn about refrigeration and the capability that a large freezer brings for long-term storage.
It is a complex integration of concepts, ideas, and understandings that we use to get and store food. If you look back into our own history, the Government and the USDA had to take a lot of time to explain the benefits of food storage and maintenance. Even canning jars did not take off at first.
Your day will begin early. You need to be up and out the door by 8 a.m. for the vegetable markets. These are divided into two principal areas — the dry market where you can get your basic vegetables and fruits, and the wet market where you can select your meat direct from the carcass. Want a chicken? Look in the cages; pick the one you want; and it will be killed and dressed before your eyes. Same with the fish. Beef and pork generally are brought from off-site sources. If your sensibilities tend to be on the squeamish side it is not wise to go through this part of the market.
Vegetable buying is much the same as at the farmer’s markets at home. Heaps of vegetables and aggressive sales people who seize an opportunity as it presents itself. If you are looking at the fruit, the vendor grabs a bag and starts filling it. Pretty soon you find yourself the soon to be proud owner of a bag of greens or fruit. It looks good on you.
The biggest thing that you have to get used to is getting the stuff home. Some vendors will deliver and there are plenty of motorcycle jocks who can take your loot to your house for a small fee. Most people however take out their own bags and carry it back to the house. One learns very quickly to buy only what you are willing to carry. Twenty kilograms of groceries is a huge weight to lug around.
Gotta go, it’s shopping time.
Orpheus Allison
Guangzhou, China
orpheusallison@mac.com
